For this new co-commission under the auspices of Performance Space and Carriageworks, Ross Manning is creating his most ambitious work yet, “an expression of moving colour in space”. Known for his work with light, sound and sculptural interactive installations that engage the viewer physically as well as visually, Manning was offered the opportunity to work within the heritage Carriageworks building. His response will see the installation of an overhead conveyor belt as a complex circuit that hangs in space.
Inspired by scientific and neurological studies about the way the human brain perceives movement, Manning has developed this work to project over an area large enough to occupy the peripheral vision of the audience, and it utilises optical flashpoints. These move from left to right and right to left and vertically to create an “agitational turbulence of light”. Sunlight is used to activate the ambient light (through the building’s skylights) and the created environment is designed to envelop the viewer.
“I am interested in the human relationship with technology, and the potency and urgency of electronic image. Yet our use of machines and our interventions with technology are largely confined and prescriptive.” Like new gaming technologies, Manning’s interest is in extending and developing technologies with explorations of their experiential possibilities that are tailored to an individual.
Manning is self-taught, with his background in electronics (as a TV repairman) and music. His artistic career evolved through the creation of self-playing instruments, with which he would perform. His compositions use coloured light as a sonic element and he sees “music and colour as interchangeable”.
Melody Lines
Ross Manning
Carriageworks
21 October – 6 November
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art is an extraordinary account of the unique art of this continent, published alongside a landmark exhibition at the Potter Museum of Art. Necessary and urgent, it tells the story of Indigenous Australian art; a new art history unlike anything we’ve seen. For Jane O’Sullivan, it’s a remarkable and must-read book.
In a new series of illustrated postcards available as a free gift with purchase only at the Art Guide Bookstore, Oslo Davis takes on classic and contemporary art terms and genres and reimagines what they could be referring to.
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In an expansive show at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, seven leading Australian ceramic artists have reinvigorated one of Australia’s oldest museum collections by creating a contemporary potter’s quarter—known as the ‘kerameikos’ in Ancient Greece.
The growing cultural interest in art books reflects the enduring power of the printed word. Jane O’Sullivan takes a closer look.
Ahead of the National Gallery of Victoria’s major retrospective on singular Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, we invited four artists to respond to the influence of Kusama on their own practice—and meditate on what her work means to them.
